Bat in the Belfry
is the episode in the Canadian TV series Silverwing. Synopsis Possible Spoilers The voice inside the gargoyle is revealed to be Zephyr, the oracle and "bat traffic controller" of the night skies. The blind but sharp-eared Albino bat takes Shade and Marina into his home inside the spire of a cathedral, where he explains his job of keeping track of all the bat colonies' migration patterns. Shade wants to leave but can't because of his ripped wing, so he reluctantly stays to be healed. Zephyr is determined to provide Marina and Shade with the life skills needed to complete their journey including herbal medicine, star navigation and echo projection-- the ability to sonically project an image. Meanwhile, the Silverwing colony waits for Shade under the eaves of a sawmill's water tower. A passing cardinal asks Frieda why they're in his territory and realizes they're Silverwings. Ariel goes out to hunt but is soon joined by Chinook. With a tear in his eye, he confesses to her that he and Shade were equally at fault for losing Tree Haven. He had been showing off and didn't want to be shown up in front of Todd and Breeze. Ariel comforts Chinook by wrapping her wing around him, and he tells her that he thinks Shade is still alive, too. Shade is having trouble taking Zephyr seriously, mostly because his emotions are controlling him. After escaping a flock of pigeons, Shade finds another pigeon hiding in the spire. Overcome with rage, he threatens the pigeon until it slips and falls to its death, and then discovers that it was an echo projection by Zephyr. Realizing how useful echo projection could be, Shade agrees to listen to more lectures from Zephyr, although he is anxious to jump straight to echo projection. Chinook goes out hunting alone and meets some flying squirrels that are angry at being mistaken for bats. Not realizing Chinook is a Silverwing, they inform him that Brutus has closed the skies to all bats and that all Silverwings are to be captured. On his way back to the tower, he sees some owls approaching, being led by the cardinal that spoke with Frieda earlier. Shade and Marina gather herbs, drive off an echo projection of an owl and learn about remedies and constellations from Zephyr. Shade is delighted to learn the basics of echo projection, creating the faded image of a leaf in the process. With his wing now healed, Shade and Marina bid farewell to Zephyr and fly away from the Cathedral. Only seconds away, Shade dismisses an owl as one of Zephyr's echo projection tests. Marina watches in horror as the "test" swoops down and snatches Shade away in its talons. Trivia *Unless the beams were projections as well, Zephyr's echoprojected pigeon causes the wooden beams in the chamber to collapse under the pressure, even though the bird did not physically exist. *Ariel comforting Chinook may be foreshadowing for when she adopted Chinook in Sunwing after both of Chinook's parents were killed. *"Keeper Of The Spire", "Star Map", and part of "Closed Skies" were the chapters of the book that were featured in this episode. *Shade faints three times in this episode from being reminded by his ripped wing. External links *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverwing_(TV_series) Silverwing on Wikipedia *http://www.amazon.com/Silverwing-Season-1-Set/dp/B000MR9D3Q Silverwing Season 1 on Amazon *http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380955/ Silverwing on IMDB Category: Silverwing Episodes